competitive-analysis

Overview

Based on "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne. Most competitive analysis maps what competitors do and tries to do it better - this is red ocean thinking. Blue Ocean Strategy asks a different question: what can we eliminate, reduce, raise, or create to make competition irrelevant?

Workflow

Step 1: Define the scope

• Is this for a specific feature or the whole product?
• What decision will this analysis inform?
• Who are the direct and indirect competitors?

Cap at 5-7 competitors. More dilutes the analysis.

Step 2: Build the Strategy Canvas

Plot competitors on a graph:

• X-axis: Competing factors (price, speed, features, support, UX, etc.)
• Y-axis: Offering level (low to high) for each factor

This is the "as-is" state. Where do all competitors cluster? That cluster is the red ocean.